Be tougher than the problem itself
-Author
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Deep within the adventurers' guild library exists a set of books where contents are purely information about monsters.
[Hmmm??? Corrosive slime? Hey old man, have you faced that kind before?] (??) Sitting at one of the chairs, reading the said book is a young promising adventurer.
[Corrosive Slime you say? I've heard of it, but I haven't faced it since I am not a regular at Veriton Dungeon. They say that it is black, some say that it is blue, but what I truly know is that it is red in its true form] (??) Scratching his long white beard, the old magician peeked at the book the young adventurer was reading.
Titled "Monster Encyclopedia Vol 2: BOSS MONSTERS", the book with a red dyed leather cover has started to wear down as its pages showed signs of age. On the specific page flicked by the youth, the information about a certain slime was shown there.
Blueish-black in normal colour, the corrosive slime is a boss-levelled monster that can only be found in the specific dungeon named Veriton, a dungeon that appeared 50 years ago in the eastern forest near Miruzo. A type of special individual among the slime category wherein it has this nature of being toxic and corrosive, melting both armour and flesh with its acidic bolts and its arcane explosion, thus earning the title of Newbie Slayer due to being found in the 5th floor of the dungeon.
It's said that you could skip fighting this boss by finding the hidden path that could be found in the very room it is in, the only problem is that you need to have a mentor to show this around otherwise no one will be bound to find it.
No one has seen what will happen when it gets hurt nor when it enters phase 3............but a certain someone will
...
...
...
What the hell is this? The slime has finally entered its 2nd phase, and its colour changed greatly. From bluish-black to bright orange-red, the slime is exuding a toxic air around it that seems to make the nearby ground bubble up.
{EMERGENCY QUEST HAS BEEN GIVEN!}
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QUEST: ELIMINATE TOXIC SLIME (TRUE FORM) LV 10
TIME LIMIT: NONE
PENALTY: DEATH
REWARD: ???
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Suddenly the notification blared up with an emergency quest, popping out a screen that showed me its contents.
The penalty for failing is death............... Holy shit.
God, this wasn't even close to fighting the hydra, this is an entire battle different from that. The hairs on my skin are standing as if spooked, my back is tingling with this strange sensation, and my face is sweating buckets.
No shit, this is getting tense as I felt that my death is now inevitable.
I've never felt this intimidated before, I wonder why. Despite the feeling of fear that is welling in me, the sides of my mouth are making me smile.
[*BLUB BLUB* *PUMP!*] (??) As if answering my strengthened resolve, the slime began to attack in gusto.
[Spread out!]
[Roger that] (Ronin) I immediately ordered Ronin to split from my position as the slime has now strengthened condition, the acidic bolt it fired did not just melt the ground, but now it made a pool of acid in it. This made our situation a bit more difficult as the terrain is now difficult to move around.
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
An angry cloud of metal balls left the LEADWALL as Ronin started to begin an onslaught of buckshot at the enemy, but it made little to no damage as there were no signs of the enemy being hurt at all.
Its gel body is now totally bullet resistant. Crap........
[Ptu!] (??) I narrowly evaded the acid bolt by a few inches from its splash damage. Heck, I even felt that the damage done by that would be tremendous after reaching its true form.
I don't even know where to begin, but it seems that my death is getting more and more inevitable by the second. I can't even find its weakness as it has become difficult to do so....unless.........
I have that! Why didn't I even remember that!?
When it comes to revealing enemies behind the cover, "that" item is typically what is used. Called a Sonar Blade, it is a device that looked like a small throwing knife but it has a sonar chip attached to it revealing the position of nearby enemies and will get highlighted with orange both in the map and the player's POV.
I immediately summoned one from my skill and then threw it off at the ground nearby.
*PING!*
An orange line then made a half-globe shape around the area, effectively showing any hidden object in the area that I could not see.
[No way..........] That was when I saw its core moving here and there inside it as if it knew how to manipulate its location to avoid getting hit.
I see now, so that was why no matter how we shoot at it there were no signs of damage whatsoever.
[Crap!] That was so close again! An acid bolt mixed with its arcane explosion detonated on the ground nearby me which almost hit me again. I swear, this thing is learning every second.
*BOOM! BAM!*
Now with its weakness revealed, I have to find a way to distract it without getting hurt in the process. For now, I think that smoking it with a concealment grenade aka smoke grenade is needed, so I threw one out in hopes of making it blind for a moment.
I could not make Ronin do a melee in this situation since the sword has melted down to the last bit, as it could only attack the range. That means I have to do it myself to finish the being, and if not..........then I will die here.
[Distract it so that I could make a shot!]
[Roger that, please take care pilot] (Ronin)
Since Ronin could see the outline of the enemy, it shoot at it thus making the slime look at its direction successfully distracting it by taking the aggro.
This is the decisive moment that I must do! So be confident myself! You can do it!
Switching the LMG into KRABER, I then assumed a firing position and then aimed at the slime.
Breathe in........... Breathe out.......steady as my breath goes, I then aimed at the sight. Seeing the target's weakness, I then hold my breath, steadying it further making me zero the crosshair at it.
My palms are sweaty, that was why my grip was a bit loose.
Seeing the slime turn its back on me made me feel the resolve to do it, aiming at the right moment......I held my breath as I made sure that the sights would align with the target's weakness.
{WEAKNESS FINDER LV1 ACTIVATED!}
{ATTACKING THE WEAKNESS OF THE TARGET NOW DEALS 10% MORE DAMAGE}
My sights immediately stabilized as soon as it aligned with the core. Seeing the chance for attack, I made the decisive move to do it. Pressing the trigger...
*BANG!*
The sniper recoiled at my shoulder, effectively shooting out the round as I see its thrown casing with a side eye flew midair. Its muzzle flash blinded me for a moment before I saw that it made a successful hit on the core.
*PACHIN!*
I heard the solid sound of a round hitting a metal plate, no, that wasn't a metal plate but it was the core.
It wasn't getting down in one hit, that was why...
*BANG!*
After pulling the charging handle, I shot another round.
*PACHIN!*
And one more
*BANG!*
*PACHIN!*
And another...
*BANG!*
*PACHIN!*
ONE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was never enough as each shot managed to successfully land a hit but showed no damage.
Also for some reason, the slime gets stunned in each successful hit.
Doing it over again and again, that was when it happened.
I was sure that the final shot would have killed it, but my fate did not go that way as the slime suddenly hardened. The bullet ricocheted, bouncing to the ceiling and making a sharp metallic sound.
[No way in hell that was normal!] This is a first too, in the books did not share any information about this ability.
A slime becoming as hard as a solid piece of rock is unheard of that if I told the old man by the library I think he will laugh it off while hitting me with his cane.
Shit, the enemy has one-upped us in this situation.
Also, the enemy seems to be angrier than ever.
Its body vigorously pumps up. Ronin sees this and immediately shot at it several times. That was just a futile act.
I turned around and ran as fast as I could, but it was useless.
An explosion ignited, and we got caught in it.